Adam Prudhomme
Editor
Napanee Bantam Express’ Nic McGrayne smashed a triple to the gap to lead off Softball Napanee’s U16 invitational tournament, held Saturday and Sunday at the Fairgrounds.
That was a good sign of things to come for the host Express, who went undefeated at the tournament, topping the U14 Peewee Express 7-2 in an all-Napanee final.
Jacob Boutilier connected on another triple in that opening inning on Saturday morning, driving in a pair of runs to lead Napanee to a 10-4 victory over Springfield. Lachlan Stover picked up the victory.
The bats continued to roll in their next game as they posted a 17-4 win over Oshawa. They closed out Saturday with a 5-1 win over Springfield.
They kept up their winning ways on Sunday, topping Port Perry 10-3 before blanking Simcoe 7-0 to reach the finals.
Meanwhile on the other side of the bracket the U14 Express were also enjoying home field advantage, despite playing up a level against U16 teams.
They defeated Simcoe 9-4, Westport 9-6, Owen Sound 11-7 and then squeaked passed Port Perry 3-2 to meet their Express counterparts in the finals. Though their undefeated run came to an end there, it was still a strong showing for the locals who were facing pitchers up to two years older.
For both Express teams the tournament was an opportunity to tune up for eliminations. The U14 Peewees will host the 19 team OASA Eliminations June 28-30 at the Fairgrounds. They’ll be playing for a chance to represent Ontario at the U14 Fastpitch Championships, held in Saskatoon, SK, July 27-31.
As for the U16 Bantams, they’ll travel to Grafton July 5-7 for their OASA Eliminations. They too will be playing for a trip to Saskatoon, SK, with the U16 Fastpitch Championships running July 31-Aug. 4.